11/14/05 - By the way, I'm still alive. I've been working on some scripts for graphic novels, and sketching constantly. Looking much forward to January 1st for my coming back online, but also really enjoying the much needed rest from deadlines.

Hope all is well for all of you as we swing into the holidays.

my best,
-christopher

-------------------------

1/1/06 - Welcome back, and I hope you all had great holidays.

After a much-needed break, i am back, and am happy to be so. I have a lot of new stuff, listed and linked in the upper left there. But I'll paste it here as well.

Today, Sunday, I am posting "Bruno" and "I am Hans Krunkel"

Also of note, I'm slowly shedding the MoodyCow brand (for various reason), and the online store has been moved to baldwinpage.com at Good Port.

Currently I am working on several projects.
All (except Little Dee)will be updated here at baldwinpage.com,
including Bruno and my blog. Little Dee will remain at littledee.net. Bruno will also continue to update on it's own here (baldwinpage/bruno.html).

The current additional projects are:
I am Hans Krunkel, a 32 page comic-book style story about twins.

Again, it's good to be back. Thank you all for your patience, the rest was much needed.

-------------------------

1/9/06 - Well, last week went relatively smoothly. I still have html i wish to clean up, such as moving the "journal notes" to the left side-bar like I just did (see?), we'll see how that works out.

But yes. So, some of you may be wondering a bit of where my life is right now, with so much up in the air when I disappeared in October. Well, it's pretty much the same. I've had no luck in my job search, so am still working full-time and my job is still pretty innocuous and non-horrible. So nothing too bad. Still living in Olympia, as that is where my job is.

I should warn you, though. Currently I am being super-duper good in managing my time, and am keeping up with my current insane comic schedule on top of working and having a minor social-life. But if there are any snags, it will unravel. The work-load is huge, and as long as I'm still working full-time, snags will be inevitable. but I will try to keep them to a minimum.

It's great to be back up here, though. Both because I'm so excited about all the projects I'm currently working on, but for the great support you've all provided me. Thank you for the kind words and support you've given in the past, and thank you all for coming back.

-------------------------

1/12/06 - Oye, do i have the flu. What fun is that?

-------------------------

1/13/06 - Still laid up with the flu. Short of a miracle: I got today's comic inked and up. The shading will have to wait until I can focus on objects again.

Funny, there was a fair chunk of time today, when i should have been lying down, where I felt fine and was doodling other things, no idea my brain would collapse by evening.

-------------------------

1/16/06 - Happy Martin Luther King Day.

Still flu. A tad more human. Tired of it.

Today's "I am Hans Krunkel" is the cover. I know it's odd timing, but I finished it, and so... um.. yeah. there it is. :)

-------------------------

1/18/06 - So, there won't be "Only Sleeping" this week on either Thursday or Friday. Only "Little Dee." Losing 5 days for the flu was just too much, and those pages are the most difficult and time consuming.

That said, I'm feeling better. And the Stevie Wonder jag i was on before the flu arrived has seemed to have resumed with hardly a bump.

-------------------------

1/23/06 - I would honestly like to blog more, but my current drawing schedule is wiping me clean of extra energy and time. I am better though, and am widening (loosening my standards) in regards to finding a part-time job. Oh and feeling fully better from the flu. :)

-------------------------

1/24/06 - Somehow i feel today's Bruno is a significant character growth moment for her. Want to post more about this and that, but I keep on thinking "and I also and i also..." without the thought leading or ending anywhere, and it's all fuzzy in the grey mattter. Doing my best to not miss Only Sleeping again this week.

-------------------------

1/26/06 - Okay. Again i do not have the shading done. but at least i have the page drawn and inked. Theoretically, this weekend, since I am not ill and don't have any large freelance job to finish, i will be able to get the back-stuff done. But who knows. I am capable of many things, but that doesn't mean those things will get done.

Oh, and i should note: "Only Sleeping" is moving pretty slow. Largely, the 180 page story is a bit more conversational, but it does have its slow moments. Like this long intro. Wish i could pound through it faster, I know reading two pages a week with this pacing can be a bit of a drag, but hopefully the finished product will be worth the wait(s).

-------------------------

1/27/06 - So, Nope. nope nope nope. I didn't make it. I tried, but I simply am not physically able to do more than one page per week if i don't have the pencils done the previous weekend. I guess I will try from now on state on Monday whether I'll have one or two pages of "only Sleeping" up depending on how my weekend went.

That said, i actually feel good and inspired. Simply a tad frustrated at my schedule. Still seeking part-time job. In the mean-time, my current wednesday drawing class has ended and I won't be re-registering again until my schedule frees up enough to allow it. This elimination of one more activity will hopefully help let-up a bit on my comics workload.

Have a great weekend!
-Christopher

-------------------------

1/30/06 - As I wished, i am giving you a pre-week update of "Only sleeping." I didn't get the shading done on "Only Sleeping" this weekend, but I did pencil the next two pages, so there will be two pages of "Only Sleeping" this week. Whether or not any shading will get done is another matter.

-------------------------

2/1/06 - A couple of things.

1. apologies for the screwed up Hans Krunkel file which many people found wouldn't load. I have fixed the format and now it's up.

2. I recently was corresponding with Tyson Smith, who seems like a very nice fellow and does a charming strip titled Pirate and Alien. I love the artwork and the voice. A good start for a new strip, I'll be following it.

-------------------------

2/2/06 - Hey look, it's actually shaded and up. :)

-------------------------

2/6/06 - When i figure it out, it's gonna sing. And all things I've screwed up will become beautiful again.

I keep getting chocolate everywhere. yesterday, after watching "Bewitched" i found it on my nose and both forearms. Now it's on Bruno. Weakness is like a silly candy I enjoy. :)

Oh, and I got "Only Sleeping" pencilled this weekend, which means both pages (theoretically) shall be up this week again.

-------------------------

2/7/06 - Bruno weird today. Tomorrow.... we'll see.

-------------------------

2/8/06 - Two things today. the first is a brief explanation of the comic "White Papers" you see posted. the second is an explanation of what the hell is happening in bruno.

"White Papers" is one of the comics that will be placed on the Water Street section of the website, as it is part of that project as a whole.

"White Papers" defines itself on its own "frontspage." It may leave many of you sighing and scratching your heads, and that's totally fine. If you have read the varied different attempts to define "comics" or "sequential art" or whatever, you are probably more likely to find this comic interesting.

Me? I am merely trying to approach comics as an art-form and explore it. If anything I create here is of real significance in the history of the form, I am not so bold as to assume it, to declare it, to be so.

I'm essentially having a bit of writer's block about Bruno, which concerns me, while at the same time I do not feel whatsoever that the project has exhausted it's possibilities.

Essentially there's a mix of things going on. The simple version is that I've created a world in Bruno, which has slowly tightened the reins of possiblity until I can't think of anywhere ot move within it. I'm reflecting on the different types of stories I've done, from the more absurd in the beginning of the circus and cross-country anarchists; to more "realistic" recent ones, such as the ethics and emotional impact of stripping , or the exploring what it means to be a manager. This is further propelled by a bit of stagnation in my own life, or better put: I've been going through tremendous amount of emotional inner-growth, and I'm still trying to get the rest of my life to catch up.

So yes, I had been kinda' waiting to see where bruno would go, or if my own life would go somewhere which would help propel her. But I feel it's stagnating, and that I have to look at the entire model of her "world" as a whole, and possibly tear parts of it down to rebuild.

So, in the meantime I'm doing this silly "break the fourth wall" stuff for however long it takes until i figure it out. My guess is that it won't last long, that I might be ready to go even as soon as this coming Monday. but will hopefully keep you entertained until I for sure do continue. Frankly, I'm kinda' enjoying it. It's kind of fun. Which is something which bruno has been lacking a bit of lately for me. And so I won't worry too-too much.

-------------------------

2/10/06 - And the award for "best actor playing corpse of kip" is.... Richard, from Only Sleeping. Huzzahh!

-------------------------

2/17/06 - I was so good. I got both "Only Sleeping" pages ready and pencilled this week, I got wednesday's done early so i could go to Portland for the "Salon BD" with my friends down there, getting back and to bed in Olympia by 2:00.

So yeah, the next page is pencilled, but tonight I was too tired to do more. Sorry. :-/

have a great weekend tho. A long one for many of you (mee too!).

-------------------------

2/20/06 - "Only Sleeping" is going off of a regular schedule.

I'm thinking of Charlottesville, Tucson, Providence,
or other possible situations.

so.....

Working full-time and doing comics full-time has taken it's toll, and in only a month-and-a-half, and it has moved me to pounce on attempting change again.

So, my life. I've come to the conclusion that i will not be able to find a state job in Seattle in the forseeable future, and that going to the private sector, with only working part-time would mean too little pay and benefits to survive in Seattle.

It's funny, if i didn't have comics, i would be quite content. I have an easy job, pays well with benefits, the best apartment in the universe in a pleasant town. But I wish to do comics, and I'm destroying myself and wasting my "life" (meaning: interacting with the rest of the world) doing it while working full-time. So, I need to leave my full-time job. Which also means I won't be able to afford my swank apartment.

What i see here is a blank canvas.

If I stay in Olympia, this means sharing an apartment and finding a part-time job which doesn't pay great with likely no benefits. During which i can continue to apply to better paying jobs, etc. I will pursue this path in a couple weeks if i choose it, but first i wish to also investigate other options.

If I leave, the three top choices currently are (alphabetically) Charlottesville, VA; Providence, RI; and Tucson, AZ.

Charlottesville and Tucson share the appeal that when i visited them i was utterly taken and charmed by them. Neither are a hot-spot enough that I couldn't find an affordable place to live with a crappy part-time job (assuming i never get sick). Charlottesville has the benefit of being closer to my home-town area of New-England, that occasional trips are more concievable. Tucson has the added benefit of being sunny a lot (which right now rates high compared to the cloudy Pacific NW).

Providence is the only place i could imagine living in new England right now. Kinda' bizarre, but there it is. NYC/Brooklyn or Boston are too expensive, and I don't think I wish to move back to the Pioneer Valley. Plus I have some good friends in Providence, which is always nice.

The other possible thing is a live-in situation. I actually am making enough money through art to pay my bills for my debt (yes, it's still there, but dwindling), so if i could live and eat someplace for free, I could survive (if you have an empty room for a year, and can feed me, I can do household helping things and doodles and all sorts of stuff). Mostly I'm thinking of maybe as a nanny with minimal time required, or maybe a live-in with someone with a disability, or maybe a dorm-marm for a private school or something (if anyone has any leads, feel free to suggest them my way, I am definitely willing to relocate).

In the mean-time I'm trying to make as little change as possible for you all. And so, for now "Only Sleeping" is going off of a regular schedule. It's the most taxing as far as work, and though i dearly love the project, it has the smallest immediate-gratification of my current projects. As i get pages done, I'll post them sometime between Monday and Wednesday (so you won't miss them) and on the main "baldwinpage.com" I'll put a "last updated" date by the only sleeping link, so you can at a glance know if you're caught up.

Anyhow. That's it. That's me. I decide on a path and keep it up until it either succeeds or i decide it's time to forge a new one. Wish me luck on this attempt.

-------------------------

2/22/06 - I turn 33 on Saturday. Palindromes are always nice. Birthdays are fine. I look forward to having a nice day that day. Nothing big I don't think.

If you're wondering about "G", it follows the theme of "White Papers" (accidentally previously called "White Pages") and the blog from that is still relevant. See it below under the 2/8/06 entry.

-------------------------

2/27/06 - Thank you all for the kind emails wishing happy birthday. I had a fine weekend, although I'm in a sour-apple mood for some reason right now. Chocolate withdrawal i suppose.

-------------------------

2/28/06 - Okay, bad scheduling. Too much birthday this weekend and not enough work, and then Nick is moving to Minnesota, so we went to see the Tune Stranglers.

So this week will be pushed back, with Bruno on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

3/6/06 - Hans Krunkel original artwork is now for sale. Links are below each page.

-------------------------

3/8/06 - That one's for you, Dylan.

-------------------------

3/13/06 - So, Bruno is back in her "real" world, and I'm feeling okay about that. Only Sleeping's "erratic" schedule, appears to be "on hold until I stop freaking out at the idea of doing another page, which might mean until i get a part-time job."

Oh, and the current plan is to stay in Olympia. I've concluded that I mostly wanted to escape because i was overloaded. Cutting back on the comics helps tremendously (though I long to get back to Only sleeping, and it is NOT a dead project). And I also had these escape fantasies of glorious other places, and I had to either kill/pospone dreaming, or else act on it, because dreaming and not acting wipes me out.

-------------------------

3/20/06 - There were large protests around the globe, which made me happy. Olympia, not a huge town, brought out about 700.

I'm also happy that i feel comfortable in the "I draw bruno" shoes for the first time in ages. I think last week went well. That pleases me.

-------------------------

3/21/06 - Today is a mental health day, I simply couldn't get Bruno done. But I'll do a strip for wednesday and thursday, so none will be missed.

I did "Hans Krunkel" over the weekend, so it was already ready to go.

I am well, feeling fine, but just couldn't do it today.

-------------------------

3/27/06 - So, Bruno and Hans Krunkel.

First, Hans Krunkel. This week takes place in an office, and last week i didn't have my act together enough to layout the photo references i had and take them to work and take matching pictures. I will take them this week and next week will return to it's normal schedule.

In place of Hans Krunkel this week, I will be illustrating a wee poem I wrote a while ago entitled, "She ended up not having to run an errand." I hope you enjoy.

Today's Bruno, I did not mean to make it so macabre, I simply found "opens a window" a peculiar choice of phrase (as a replacement for a door). Although, I do think I caught Bruno's mixed emotion in her face, of almost reflexive commentary and true sympathy.

-------------------------

3/28/06 - So, the poem has two more stanzas left, which will either both appear on thursday or else one on thursday and one on Friday.

Like the rest of my little side projects, it will be permanently linked to from Water Street.

-------------------------

3/30/06 - Okay, so I finished both of the last stanzas, but at the last moment, before posting them both, I decided I didn't like the very last drawing. And since it is too late to go back ot the drawing board (my eyes hurt), I'm posting page #4 today, and page #5 on Friday.

Like the rest of my little side projects, it will be permanently linked to from Water Street.

-------------------------

4/3/06 - So, in Olympia, every Monday night, the "Tune Stranglers" play at the Brotherhood bar downtown. They're a tight bluegrass band. They don't seem to try to be too radically inventive, or to play many new songs, but that's not what they're about. They seem to really enjoy it, and are really tight, and I always leave there thinking that olympia is a fine place to live.

Meanwhile, my life stumbles along. I thought I had a part-time job lined up, but it fell through. And I'm quickly reaching the burn-out point I was at last autumn. I NEED to go part-time, and soon. I just have to find a job that pays moderately okay.

That said, I'm also enjoying doing comics more than ever, these days. The steady projects, plus the others: Go Go Goognog and last week's poem, and I've begun taking source photos for the project (tentatively called "push")which will follow Hans Krunkel (there's only about a month left).

I also managed to get the needed source photos for Hans Krunkel, so this week I am back in action. Yay, for that. It felt like forever to miss a week of it.

-------------------------

4/4/06 - So, no Hans Krunkel tonight. I'm basically trying not to have a panic attack. I'm sure all this stress will pass shortly, it's all continued work drama.

So yeah, but Bruno and Dee are up, and I'm feeling it's time to lay down and relax. I'd predict the rest of the week or next week, but it'd be best if i didn't.

HOWEVER!

I will NOT be stopping Hans Krunkel like I've had to for Only Sleeping, even temporarily. I missed last week because of bad scheduling with the photo sources, and this week I only got one page done, but I am not going to let that be indicative of anything.

So there. :)

-------------------------

4/5/06 - Got up a sketchblog today from sketches I did in the autumn.

I almost feel it's an obligation to mention this, though i can't seem to get too excited about it myself, that today, twice, just after 1:00, the date and time will be:

01:02:03 04/05/06

Well, not for you Europeans who have to wait a month 'til the fourth of May because you can't get your day and month straight. :-P

-------------------------

4/10/06 - So, there is a Little Dee Book now available. I'm kinda' excited, I think I did a really clean job with the pre-press, and I'm rather proud of the consistency of the whole thing.

In other news, I think I'm doing a wee bit better this week emotionally. I'm in a bit of a spiral, and I'm trying to keep 'er steady.

-------------------------

4/12/06 - A bit fatigued today, I admit. I will work to have Bruno posted on Thursday instead. In the meanwhile, enjoy this weeks Sea Story by Dan Wolff.

-------------------------

4/13/06 - So finally, really late wednesday, i wrote a passable strip. but it was too late to consider drawing it. It bothers me. I wanna' be a good cartoonist, and missing deadlines are what shiftless cartoonists do.

but so it goes. :)

I'm calling the week a wash, and will try again fresh on Monday.

-------------------------

4/19/06 - Another one-page short comic today, which can also be found archived at Water Street

-------------------------

4/26/06 - Okay, still sick. Can't think. No Bruno, no Sea Story (though Dan did write one, and a marvelous one at that, which I can't wait to draw for and post.).

-------------------------

5/1/06 - Feeling better this week, although obviously my head is on backwards a bit still, as you may notice in Bruno.

-------------------------

5/2/06 - Well, so there is only one more page of Hans Krunkel to go, and as much as i hate to make you all wait another week, i cannot fathom how to possibly get it done this week, already i will be up late every night working. I apologize.

On happier news, this week will have a Wild Life story by Daniel, since I missed illustrating it last week. And then we will continue every other week after this week, so it's all only one week off, rather than two.

That made little sense. It's way late and I'm tired.

-------------------------

5/8/06 - First off, my apologies to Daniel. In last week's Sea Story, Leaving The School, I accidentally cut off the last sentence. So if it left you perplexed, it was my fault, I apologize, and it is now fixed.

Secondly, today is the last day of I am Hans Krunkel. I hope you have enjoyed it. I can say that it was immense fun to write and draw. My current plans for publication of it (if you're curious) is this: in a year or so i'll be putting out a collection of Water Street stories, and I plan to include it in that. Though I am considering approaching Drawn&Quarterly or some such publisher as well.

Lastly, Bruno. I've been feeling kinda' down about Bruno, mostly because I've been unsure what lies next, but finally I sat down and read all the strips I've done since my autumn hiatus, and I pleasantly found them to be actually kinda strong. Sure, as ever, there are non-stellar strips, and I think the pacing suffers with my "interludes" (not planned) and it running only three days per week (somewhat remedied by reading them all at once). But yeah, I am pleased, and it puts me in a good mood to be so.

-------------------------

5/8/06 - Now that I am Hans Krunkel is complete, for the rest of this week and plus the next two weeks I will only be doing Little Dee, Bruno, and next week on it's usual Wednesday slot, a Wild Life story by Dan.

The simple reason for the respite is that I will be stepping away from my desk from May 12th-23rd and am fighting just to get Dee and Bruno done before i go (I put in about 35 hours of straight work this weekend). (Any book orders will be fulfilled when I return)

But then I will be back with more, I actually have a cue of projects just waiting to happen. And my work schedule is finally reducing on june 1st, so I'll be able to focus on things. But I will discuss that more when I have the breathing room to discuss the fact that I have breathing room.

-------------------------

5/29/06 - I am back to my desk. I had a very lovely and restful respite and I'm excited to be back.

That said, I've returned at a "getting back in the swing of things" pace. I am Hans Krunkel is done, and I'm playing around with doing Only Sleeping in it's place for a while, or starting a new piece I have written and almost ready to draw.

The result of all this is, today, there's only Bruno. I'll probably have something else on the site this week, we'll see. And Dan is taking a week's break on Wild Life before he moves on to Beasts of the Field after having just finished Fish of the Sea.

All that said, I'm feeling good about Bruno, which makes me happy. So I am content.

Oh, and I have fallen in love with the Hernandez Brothers' Love and Rockets, both PalomarandLocas. It's about frikkin' time I finally read them. And I've also fallen in love with movie director Catherine Breillat.

-------------------------

6/5/06 - Okay, this week it looks like I'm still pretty useless. Burnt myself pretty well leading up to my respite.

But yes, I've been puttering at the next project, and I'm sure I'll start it soon.

but I'll be good :) and there will be three strips this week. Either two on wednesday, or one on wednesday and one on thursday.

-------------------------

6/7/6 - Today is Bruno's Birthday, I haven't forgotten, but I'm a day behind. So there will be a strip on thursday.

-------------------------

6/12/06 - I started a new short comic book today entitled "Push." It will run Monday-Friday (except days when "Wild Life" runs).

And although at first it may appear as some standard medieval knightly adventure tale, it isn't really that at all.

Unfortunately, it will run at a maddeningly slow pace, of one panel per day. I know this is cruelty to readers, and I don't expect anyone to follow it. But I think that its the correct pace to make myself draw it, and so, there it is. I apologize ahead of time.

-------------------------

6/30/06 - Hey, remember the comic Only Sleeping that i was drawing? The last page I did being back in early February? Well, lo and behold, I actually finished another page.

I'm not guaranteeing more, but there you go.

Oh, and I'm posting this today instead of Push.

-------------------------

6/30/06 - OKay, a bunch of things today.

First off, I was interviewed for an article over at afterellen.com. Thanks, Veronica!

Secondly, Happy 4th of July, you Americans. Enjoy yourself, and don't drink&drive or anything like that. Put the bottle-rocket in the ground before lighting it.

And so, today's "Bruno", as well as the bonus political strip, are due to a local boycott in Olympia. You can find out more at www.planboly.org, or also, simply continue reading here while I blather on about it.

So, the local food chain of "Thriftway" actually are refusing to stock "Plan-B" also known as the "Morning After Pill." The pharmacist even wishes to be able to fill the prescriptions, whether or not he believes in it, but the owner, Storman, won't let the store stock it.

I find it a horrible thing, aside from being possibly illegal (that is being looked into). I feel that pharmacies should not be able to refuse to fill prescription medication based purely due to moral grounds. At all. Although I find this case particularly bad, as they are the only pharmacy in the downtown Olympia area (although "Family Planning" is an alternative), and me, being someone without a car, I would hate to be in the situation of being unable to access an extremely time-sensitive prescription.

Anyhow. Not sure why I'm discussing it here. I know that 99% of you already know where you stand on the issue, one way or another, and there's little debating it.

I hope you enjoy the comics either way. :)

-------------------------

7/4/07 -

-------------------------

7/12/06 - So, I'm not sure how many of you noticed, but I switched the layout of "PUSH" from 4 panels per page, to 9 panels per page. I also re-drew quite a few panels, including the earlier gargoyle drawings (I still will re-draw one or two, I'm sure). And I finally laid out the rest of the story precise enough to know it is going to be 11 pages (or 10, there's one bit I haven't decided on yet). Either way, I've been really enjoying it (drawing and looking at it), and though the pace may be maddening for all of you, I've really enjoyed doing it so relaxedly and being able to put in such thought and care for each panel.

If you are interested in purchasing any of the panels (except the portrait panels), feel free to email me. But, since I've been switching them around and re-drawing them so much, I took down the easy-purchase feature rather than constantly re-writing the code.

-------------------------

7/17/06 - I spent the weekend taking care of my friend with the broken ankle. I also got to have lovely pasta (no food poisoning) with my cousin's family. It was a fine weekend.